Morinish

The first settlement of Morinish occurred when William Henry Wiseman,
as Lands Commissioner of Leichhardt, approved an application for land from
Patrick Mackay and his brother Colin for Morinish in 1854. Morinish is 45 kms
west-north-west of Rockhampton. At one time, Colin Mackay's country stretched to
Gogango. The property ran sheep and it was not until 1871 that Mackay decided to
get rid of the sheep (they were unsuitable for the ground & available
grasses) and run cattle. In the 1870's more pastoralists arrived and, according
to an article in The Morning Bulletin in the early part of this century, much of
the Morinish area was settled by people from Scotland. These Scots worked on the
land and did not do any mining of the gold which was discovered there in 1866.
(See article 'Among the Scots' in our December 1995 journal.)

It was not until 1866, the two Smith brothers, while working
for Mackay, discovered gold on a spur of the Morinish Range which was part of
Morinish Station. The Morinish Gold Fields were not gazetted until 1871. Many of
the diggers that arrived soon after the find had moved from the Crocodile Fields
(now Bouldercombe) to the newly discovered diggings at Morinish. This may have
been because of the race riots (between the Chinese and the miners) occurring at
Crocodile diggings or the flooding of the Crocodile Creek. By March 1867, there
were over 1200 people on the field, scattered over a distance of 26kms. Once
payable gold was found, stores were erected, hotels opened and early in 1867,
Morinish assumed an air of prosperity although the Morinish Provisional School
was not established until February 1883 (records show that, at this time, there
were only 19 students). Certainly in these early years Morinish was not a
healthy playground for children as the burial records for this area testify. A
major problem at Morinish for the diggers was a lack of water and the miners
tried unsuccessfully to dam the creeks.

Gold was to be found close to the surface and in some areas,
was only 3 metres down. Many reefs were discovered around the Morinish fields.
One such field was called Blackfellow's Gully and "was named after the
discoverer in 1867, an American man of colour" according to Bird pp 213.
This mine was mined continuously by some old hands, including W O'Donoghue and
Mr Pattimore, till the early 1900's. Another very profitable field was Hunter's
Gully which was just outside the Morinish Gold & Mineral Fields. Gold was
discovered here by David Hunter in January 1867. The lead & surrounding
areas of this field were worked profitably by a great number of people for many
years. Product records show that gold was still being produced from this field
in 1946 - 221 ozs - but there were no early production records kept for this
field until 1909. Geologists claim that there is still gold to be found in this
area today.

Wealth was a long way off for those capitalists who had
rushed the area with a surplus of crushing batteries to serve the fields that
had not been properly proved. Another factor was that, in October 1867, the
discovery of gold at Gympie was announced and many diggers soon left the old
field for the new fields. As well as this, gold had also been discovered in
other parts of the district. In just over one week, Gympie's population had
reached 3000. According to the poet Alick Forbes who lived at the diggings,
"Morinish had fallen into decadence by the early 1870's". (Bird pp213)

In his book "Voices from the Bush", he wrote
"Weep, Morinish, weep, the hour has come.
When Alick has to hump his drum!"
Alick eventually left the area to go to Maryborough.

My interest in this area stems from the knowledge that my
g.g.grandfather Henry Bethel and my g. grandfather John Thomas were there. John
Thomas, known as Blackjack and the discoverer of gold mines of that name at
Ravenswood and Charters Towers was in the party of men which included Mr EHT
Plant and Mr Ellis in 1867 when they discovered The Pioneer / Kennedy Reef at
Morinish. After the group sold out, Thomas and Plant moved on to Ravenswood and
eventually to Charters Towers. An interesting fact that I have been unable to
discover is the significance of the name of Marie Louise which was a reef at
Morinish. John Thomas later called his mill in Charters Towers, the Marie Louisa
Mill. As I can't find where John Thomas came from, I often wonder if this name
is the link to his past.

It should be mentioned at this time that relations with the
aboriginal people in this area were very poor. Native police were brought to the
area soon after the gold rush to protect the miners. The cruelty of these native
police was demonstrated when they shot four Darambal aboriginals including a
young girl at their camp at Morinish around 12 July 1867. History tells us that
the reason for this racial hatred occurred in 1857 when Mrs Fraser and her
children, with the exception of one child, were brutally murdered by aboriginals
on their property on the Upper Dawson River. One son, William Fraser who was
absent from the station at the time, was virtually licensed by the Queensland
government, to shoot all aboriginals. He was in the Morinish area in 1867
tracking down a tribe of aboriginals. The frightened women and children had run
to McKenzie's property, "Callioran" at Morinish for protection and
were hidden by Mrs McKenzie's in her bedroom.

In the Bulletin newspaper (Rockhampton) of 24 October 1869,
the editor stated "Gold and murder are found in combination.". He was
commenting after the execution of the men found guilty of the murder of Patrick
Halligan. Patrick Halligan was a popular, honest and a fair gold buyer who
disappeared on 24 April 1869 while returning with gold from Morinish. He was
held up by two men, George Palmer and Jack Williams. Halligan was shot by the
men because he recognised Palmer and his body was weighted down and thrown in
the Fitzroy River. Two days later his body was found floating in the river.
Another man, Alex Archibald, a publican of the Lion Creek Hotel, was also found
guilty of the murder as he planned the hold up. All three men were sent to the
gallows in Rockhampton.

There was always danger in gold mining in those early years
and there was one recorded tragedy in DW de Havelland's book "Gold and
Ghosts". In September 1885, the Welcome Reef was flooded without warning
and four men were drowned. They were William McMaster, father of six who was
buried in Rockhampton, James Graham, widower and father of two, Robert McLean
& Robert Johnson, newcomers to the field, who were buried on Welcome Flat.
William McMaster's youngest son, Fergus, was later to achieve fame as one of the
founders of Qantas Airways.

Very soon, Morinish had had its days of glory when gold was
discovered at Ridgelands & Rosewood and the area was deserted except for
reef miners awaiting machinery to crush the gold. Until the 1940's, it still
remained an area where some gold miners continued to try their luck. Today all
that remains of this exciting history are the many abandoned mine shafts. The
grazing industry is alive and well, as it was before the discovery of gold.

The following names are to be found in CQ Family History
Association records as being at The Morinish during the latter part of the 19th
century.

PROPERTIES around MORINISH

W J Black & Mary Ann Black of Marble Ridges.

James Edgar of Craiglee,

Jack Hanrahan of Hillview,

J J & AE Hanrahan of Hillview

J Hansen of Rosebrook,

Margaret Hansen of Mt Morinish

Adam Henderson of Bannockburn,

Bob Henderson of Glengowrie,

Tom Henderson,

Martin & Elizabeth Johnson of Mt Morinish

Chas J Lawrence of Brookfield Farm,

McKenzie's property, "Callioran" George J McKenzie of
Melrose,

James McKenzie of Melrose Elizabeth & Sarah F McKenzie of Melrose

Colin Mackay of Morinish,

Mr Muldoon of Glenroy

J S Mylrea of Wattle Bank

George & Margaret Rutherford of Redbank,

I H & Ellen Salmon of Apple Vale,

Edward J Webb of Melrose,

Margaret M Welsh of Blackfellows Gully,

MINERS & CITIZENS OF MORINISH IN THESE EARLY YEARS

Thomas Anderson, W W Anslow

Robert Atkinson & Family, Henry Bethel & family

WJ Black & Family, Cornelium Bradley,

Albert James Callan, Coffee family,

W Craven & family, Peter Doolan & family,

Mr Ellis, Hannah Fielding,

John Ferguson Albrecht Feez

Fred Frank, Charles Frankish,

Alexander Forbes, Elizabeth Funnel,

James Graham, John Hodda & family,

William Hodgson & family, William Oswald Hodgkinson

David Hunter, Captain RM Hunter

Frank Jackson, John Jepson & family,

Arthur Jones, Robert McLean,

J McKinnon, John Marshall,

William McMaster & family, John Morgan,

John & Emma Odgers, William & Johanna O'Donoghue,

J Oxley & family, William Pattison

William Pearce & family, George Pickup,

EHT Plant, George & Alice Reid,

Thomas Reynolds & family, Richards/Miller family,

William Ryan & family, John Savage & family,

James Therry, John Tyrol,

Johann Voight, Mr Watson,

James & Margaret White, John Williams.

Mr & Mrs George Wilson & family, Smith Brothers.

1973 TELEPHONE DIRECTORY

The following people were listed in the 1973 telephone directory for Morinish
You will note that some of the family names are descendants from the original
pioneers.

PA & EJ Aitkenson Grzrs - Coorumburra

AJ Beak Grzr - Develin

RF Beak Grzr - Morbank

Est of JT Black Grzr - MarbleRidges

Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd - Hillview

D McK Edgar Grzr - Armagh

GF Edgar Grzrs - Homehill

GF & Dm Edgar Grzrs - Craigilee

Henderson Bros Grzrs - Bannockburn

Est of T Henderson Grzrs - Normanville

JS Jones Grzr - ForestHome

NV Mills Grzr - Melrose

JT Milner Grzr - Kenkara

Mountain View Pastoral Co. Grzrs

GH & GN Rutherford Grzrs - Redbank

TK Smith Grzr - Barmac

CJ Warnock Grzr - Calliweera No 2

DJ Warnock Grzr - Calliweera No 1

LONE GRAVES

Many of the early burials occurred on the gold fields. These particular lone
graves appears to be at the Welcome Flat site.

Names of persons buried on R523, parish of Morinish as supplied by Mr &
Mrs Franklin on 2 June 1943. Records came from District Land Office, Rockhampton
on 9 June 1943.